NHL Trade Deadline: Assessing the Boston Bruins Deals

Well the NHL trade deadline has come and passed and while there is still a small chance that not all of the deals have been heard of yet, it's most likely that the Bruins have finished trading.

With that said the Boston Bruins did nothing that will help them improve as a team over this last stretch of games. Everyone knew that they needed a goal scorer if they wanted a chance at making the playoffs and having a chance once making them, but management was unable to get a deal done.

The first move the Bruins made that had any impact was trading Derek Morris to the Phoenix Coyotes for a fourth round pick. Morris who was in just his first season with the Bruins has been rather disappointing this year.

The move was most likely done to make room for cap space. Morris was currently making $3.3 million and was only signed until the end of the year. The Bruins were able to make room for some much needed cap space but overall the trade will have no real effect on the team.

The second and most likely most important deal was made later. The Bruins traded Byron Bitz, Craig Weller, and a second round pick to the Florida Panthers for Dennis Seidenberg and Matthew Bartkowski.

Bartkowski won't be making an impact for a while right now since he is currently playing for Ohio State. The Bruins did get a puck moving defenseman that they needed badly in Dennis Seidenberg.

Seidenberg will most likely take Derek Morris's spot in the lineup. Seidenberg is just about as good a player as Morris was and he comes a bit cheaper. He will most likely end up being a rental only though since he is an unrestricted free agent once the season is up.

The loss of Byron Bitz was a bit surprising as he had shown moments of potential this year and in last year's playoffs but in the end he won't be missed that much. Craig Weller has been an AHL player for most of his career and didn't look like he would end up panning out.

Overall the Bruins were a major disappointment at the deadline this year. Chiarelli knew that they needed to get a goal scorer if the Bruins wanted a chance at the playoffs this year and he still wasn't able to get a deal done.

Bruins fans shouldn't expect much from the team the rest of this season. They currently rank dead last in the league in scoring averaging just 2.33 goals per game and don't look to be scoring much more in the near future. The only reason they have found themselves this close to the playoffs is because of the defense and goaltending.

It's a tough day in Boston right now. After clinching the number one seed in the Eastern Conference last year and making it to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in ten years the Bruins now find themselves possibly missing the playoffs entirely.

Let's just hope these guys can come around and learn how to put the puck in the back of the net or the rest of the season is going to be tough to watch.